William mason



(No Model.)

W. MASON.

MAGAZINE FIRE ARM.

N0. 312,139. Patented Feb. 10,1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT WILLIAM MASON, OF NE\V HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNORTO THE XVIN- CHESTER REPEATING ARMS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MAGAZINE FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 312,139, dated February10, 1885.

Application filed December 15, 1884. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM Mason, of New Haven, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvement inMagazine FireArms; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken inconnection with accompanying drawings and the letters of referencemarked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, andrepresent, iii- Figure 1, a right-hand side view of the forward portionof the receiver and rear portion of the barrel and magazine, showing theopening in the receiver and carrier for the introduction of cartridges;Fig. 2, an opposite side view, a portion of the receiver broken away toshow that side of the carrier; Fig. 3, a 1011- gitudinal section throughthe cartridge-chamber in the carrier; Fig. 4, a top view of the carrierremoved from the arm, illustrating the cover and stop as in the positionof introducing cartridges; Fig. 5, a transverse section of the receiver,showing a rear end view of the carrier; Fig. 6, a side View of thecarrier, and Fi 7 a horizontal section showing a modification wherebythe cover is made to serve both as a cover and as a check or stop. Figs.8, 9, 10, and 11 illustrate a modification, Fig. 8 being a right-handside View of the carrier, Fig. 9 a horizontal section through thecartridgechamber, Fig. 10 a reverse side view of Fig. 8, and Fig. 11 arear end view of the carrier.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of magazinefire-arms adapted to use the smaller class of cartridges, such as 22s.In this class of arms, if the same method of charging the magazine beemployed-to wit, an opening through the side of the receiver, with atrap therein, and a passage leading from the opening to themagazine-tube-the cartridges are so short that they cannot be followedby the thumb so far through the opening in the receiver as to take themto a point where they may be caught and held in their proper position inthe magazine or carrier. To obviate this difficulty detachable magazineshave been employed, which, after being charged, are applied to the arm;but such construction is open to serious objections, one of theprincipal of which isthe fact that the magazine is detachable andremovable from the arm, and in such removing, loading, and replacing itis liable to be bent out of shape or otherwise deranged 5 5 so as toprevent its practical workin The object of my invention is to constructthe arm so that the magazine may be conveniently and readily chargedthrough the receiver, and my invention is particularly adapted to theconstruction of arm commonly known as the Winchester arm that is to say,in which the carrier moves vertically up and down in a recess in thereceiver at the rear of the barrel, and through which a longitudiin thereceiver and in the carrier to said chamber, and which said chamberleads directly to the magazine, combined with a check or stop in thecarrier to prevent the return of the cartridge, as more fullyhereinafter described.

A represents the receiver, B the barrel, and C the magazine, of a\Vinchester arm; D, the. carrier, which is arranged in a recess in thereceiver in rear of the barrel in the usual manner, and through the sideof the receiver into the carrier-recess is an opening, E, and in thesame side of the carrier a corresponding opening, F, is made, the saidopenings being made in line with the chamber a in the carrier,whichcorresponds to and forms substantially a continuation of the magazinewhen the carrier is in its down or normal position. In the open ing F inthe carrier a cover, 0, is hinged at the rear, as at (Z, and so as to beturned inward,

as indicated in Fig. 4. The outer surface of the cover or trap isrecessed, as at c, to form a guide for the cartridge into thepassage,aud in like manner as are the traps or covers ofmagazine-charging openings in other arms. The cover is constructed so asto come to a bearing when in its closed position, as seen in Fig. 3.Upon the side of the carrier opposite IOO the cover, a latch or stop, f,is hung upon a hinge, h, near the rear end of the carrier. The nose ofthe latch is distant from the forward end of the carrier equal to thelength of the cartridge to be used in the arm. The latch f is providedwith a spring, 1', (see Figs. 2 and 4,) the tendency of which is tothrow the latch inward, so that its nose stands across the chamber inthe carrier, as seen in Fig. 3. The latch f being directly opposite thecover I), if the cover be turned inward, as seen in Fig. 4, it willstrike the latch on the opposite side and force the latch outward fromthe chamber in the carrier, as indicated in Fig. 4. Thus constructed, tocharge the arm, the nose of the cartridge is placed upon the cover 12,and the cover depressed, in like manner as such acover is depressed whenarranged in the side of the receiver, and such depression of the coverturns the latch f out of the chamber or passage in the carrier, asindicated in Fig. 4, and so that the cartridge may be pressed forwardwith the finger toward the magazine, until the latch f may return inrear of the head of the cartridge, then left free, the latch springsinward, to form a stop to prevent the return of the cartridge.Successive cartridges are introduced until the required number havepassed into the magazine. The latch f serves as a stop to hold therearmost cartridge in its proper position in the carrier, to betransferred by the carrier to a position in line with-the barrel andforward of the longitudinally-movable breech-piece G. Then when thebreechpiece is moved forward it strikes the inclined back of the latchf, turns the latch outward, so that the breech-piece will readily passit and transfer the cartridge to the barrel. Then, the carrier beingdropped, the latch returns in time to form a stop for the next cartridgewhich passes from the magazine into the chamber in the carrier. Thecover 12 may serve as the check or stop for the cartridge, and therebyavoid the use of the latch f. This arrangement may be seen in Fig. 7,the cover of the same shape and hung in substantially the same manner inthe opening in the carrier, the forward end of the carrier constructedwith an inwardly-projecting nose, Z. In this case the cover should alsobe provided with a spring, m, the tendency of which is to force thecover outward into its closed position, and in this position the nose Iof the cover stands within the chamber of the carrier as a check or stopagainst which the head of the cartridge will abut, as it did in thefirst illustration against the nose of the latch f. In this constructionit will be desirable to make an opening, n, in the opposite side of thereceiver, into which the nose of the cover may enter, so as to leave afree passage into the carrier. The

same spring 111. may be applied to the cover I) cover for the opening Fin the carrier may be omitted, as seen in Fig. 9. In this case'the checkupon the opposite side will be depressed by the nose of the cartridge asit passes into the chamber in the carrier.

WVhile I prefer to hinge the stop or check at the rear, and so that itwill swing in ahorizontal plane, it may be arranged to swing in avertical plane-that is, hinged belowas seen in Figs. 9, 10, and 11, itextending up so that its nose projects into the chamber in the carrier,as seen in Figs. 9 and 11.

It may sometimes happen in introducing a cartridge through the openinginto the carrier that it may escape the fingers of the operator beforeits head shall have passed forward of the nose of the latch. In thatcase it would,under the action of the spring of the magazine, be free tobe thrown farther tothe rear. I therefore find it desirable to provide asecond check, r, in shape substantially like the check f in Figs. 9 and10. This check is arranged at the rear of the first check, its noseextending into the chamber of the carrier, and so that should the firstcheck, f, permit the cartridge to move to the rear itwill be caught bythe check 1", and will there stand to prevent the introduction of othercartridges until the cartridge so stopped by the check 1' shall be movedforward into its proper position and caught by the check f. In this casethe two checks f 1" are provided with their independent springs,respectively 8 and t, as seen in Fig. 10.

I have not illustrated the mechanism of the arm other than the carrier,as such mechanism is too well known to require particular illustrationor description.

I claim 1 In a magazine fire-arm having a longitudinally-movablebreech-piece, and in which the magazine is arranged beneath the barrel,a carrier arranged to move up and down to transfer a cartridge from themagazine to a position between the front face of the open breechpieceand the barrel, the receiver constructed with an opening, and thecarrier with a corresponding opening into its chamber which receives thecartridges from the magazine for transfer to the barrel, and throughwhich openings the cartridges may be introduced to the cartridge-chamberin the carrier, and thence to the magazine, the carrier provided with acheck or stop to engage the head of each cartridge so introduced throughthe opening in the receiver and carrier, substantially as described.

2. In amagazinefirearm in which the magazine is arranged beneath thebarrel and having alongitudinally-movable breech-piece, the combinationtherewith of a carrier arranged to transfer the cartridges from themagazine to a position between the front face of the breech-piece, andthe rear end of the barrel, the receiver constructed with an openingthrough one side, the carrier with a corresponding opening upon the sameside but in ICO rear of the front end of the carrier, the opening in thecarrier provided with a cover ar ranged to turn inward into thecartridge chamber in the carrier and serve as a guide for theintroduction of cartridges through the opening in the receiver, and theopening in the carrier to the said chamber in the carrier, and thence tothe magazine, substantially as described.

3. In a magazine firearm having a magazine arranged beneath the barrel,alongitudinallymovable breech-piece and a carrier arranged to transfercartridges from the magazine to a position between the front face of theopen breech-piece and the rear end of the barrel, the receiverconstructed with an opening through one side, the carrier with acorresponding opening leading into its chamber which receives thecartridges from the magazine, the said opening in the carrier providedwith a cover opening inward, the said cover serving as a guide toconduct the cartridge through the opening in the receiver and opening inthe carrier to the chamber in the car rier, thence to the magazine, anda stop arranged to engage the head of the cartridge so introduced intothe chamber in the carrier, substantially as described.

4. In a magazine fire-arm having a 1nagazine arranged beneath thebarrel, alongitudi- Dally-movable breech-piece, and a carrier arrangedto transfer a cartridge from the magazine to a position between thefront face of the open breech-piece and the barrel, the receiverconstruetedwith an opening through one side, the carrier with acorresponding opening into the cartridgechamber in the carrier, andthrough which opening in the receiver and opening in the carriercartridges may be introduced to the chamber in the carrier, and thenceto the magazine, a stop arranged to fall in rear of the head of thelast-inserted cartridge, and a second or auxiliary stop arranged in rearof the before-mentioned stop, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

VILLIAM MASON.

\Vitnesses:

DANIEL H. VEADER, LEE H. DANIELS.

